The Twitter account @news_va_en, has been active since March 9, 2010, but this is the first time that The Pope has sent a Tweet. The Vatican has embraced the use of social media platforms to spread the Church’s message and has been encouraging priests to blog and engage with their communities online.

1) Name change: the Vatican’s username is a little obscure (@vatican_va_en). Someone already owns ‘@thepope’ but we think Twitter would be prepared to hand it over. The Dalilama is a good example to follow - @DalaiLama

2) Profile picture: an update is needed, at the moment it’s not an actual picture of Pope Benedict XVI - a proper picture would be more friendly

3) Follow people: currently the account follows a total of 0 people - if the Church is serious about engaging then it should follow people back.

4) But be careful who you follow: you don’t want to get caught out by spoof accounts such as @jesus

5) Be a little less formal: the Pope’s first (only?) tweet began “dear friends” and was signed with his name - on twitter he can afford to be less formal and more conversational